Into the Dungeon 3
Story Summary Prologue: The Call Within the Crystal Skycity, the central seat of power of the Ganthian Kingdom, the Crystal King sits. Some time ago, his daughter The Glittering Princess had gone missing...and hearing no word from her in so long worried him greatly... ...One day, someone would request audience with him... A Ganthian Hero by the name of Truman approaches the King with terrible news. He informs him that his daughter has perished...how she did he could not be certain... ...The distraught King refused to believe him and decided to take action... So he sent out a Call... A Call to summon all manner of adventurers from all over to the Crystal Skycity, for a mission to find his daughter and bring her home! Word would spread, and the Call would be answered. Many different people, each with a different goal in mind, would travel to the heart of the Ganthian Kingdom... ...but would things go as expected? Another would hear of this Call... ...A Girl with Rainbow Colored Eyes... She begins to make her way to The Crystal Skycity... --- Colorless Chronicles: The Hall of All Colors The story begins with Cata of Spades making his way to The Crystal Skycity to answer the King's Call. It would be past midnight when he would arrive at the Hall of All Colors, a mead hall for local heroes and hirelings where everyone was meeting up for the mission details. Before he stepped inside he stopped for a moment... ...He notices a young woman seated atop the roof on the opposite side of the street. Blonde of hair, and with beautiful rainbow eyes that reflected all colors out of the darkness, the young woman held a half empty wine glass in one hand and a pipe in the other.... He decides to not pay her any mind, believing her to be a delinquent, and proceeds. He is stopped at the door by Jeff Zero who tells him (along with other people heading inside such as the Knight Tiellen) to turn back lest they end up like him. He ignores him and goes inside... Inside of the mead hall, there were several prominent figures. Knights, Researchers, and Auditors in service of the king had been gathered. The latter would be needed to co-ordinate payment to the adventurers upon completion of the quest. He was also able to pick out other figures in the crowd that hailed from all over. It seemed they had truly come from all across the lands... He eagerly anticipated the arrival of the King's Clerk, who would likely give out information on how this quest was going to be handled. He sat with others that were gathered there... ....Then everything went to hell... In a flash, everything aught fire as beams of light sliced through the ceiling and walls. A massive weight pounded on the roof overhead, sending the rafters crashing down into the building. Cata watched as many of the King's Men went down in a shower of bloodshed! Soon the building began to tip on its side as Jeff Zero runs in and grabs Cata. There is another crash and soon they feel like they are falling... The building they were inside was falling out of the sky! It had been smashed right off the face of the Crystal Skycity. The Crystal Skycity was being attack... Before long, everything went black...and The Realm of Darkness that lied below them would be disturbed... --- Red Chronicles: Seeing Red ROSTER Jeff Zero, Lvl 1 Vagrant (Iron Longsword) BURN' '''Ely, Lvl 1 Bard (Bladed Feathers) BANT, Lvl 1 HERO (Scale of Justice) Leo, Lvl 1 Red Mage (Electric Epee) Seplito, Lvl 1 Hustler (Gambler’s Case) Blackburn, Lvl 1 Dino (Jetpack) Turbo, Lvl 1 Carnie (Flaming Lasso) Lefty, Lvl 1 Lad (Bamboo Pole) Ryoko, Lvl 1 Executioner (Scythe) ExTha, Lvl 1 Activist Mastery' ---''' After rescuing Cata from being killed in the opening scene, Jeff Zero wakes up with a group that is still trapped inside of the tavern. However, the tavern has fallen out of the sky and ended up inside of an underground cavern. Since the area is on fire, Jeff and his allies work to rescue as many people as they can (including Ely, the bard obsessed with finding her lute, which becomes important later) and he sustains burns in the process. As they proceed through the wreckage (picking up a Silver Spoon amongst the rubble) they battle a group of Gremlocks. The group eventually meets with a mysterious Brown-Eyed Maiden with Ruby Red Slippers (Annie) who had also been caught in the attack at the Crystal Skycity and was looking for something (which would be the Silver Spoon). There is a juncture at this point where the party could continue along their current path or to follow Annie into the Crypts. The group decides to follow her, although she doesn't really care. Along the way, she provides a bit of background information on the dungeon they are in as well as telling them rumors about an Evil Wizard named Quen. On the way to Quen's underground prison they encounter a psychic enemy called the Brown Fish, which nearly kills every member of the group but is overcome by Blackburn who then sacrifices his life to protect the others. The survivors proceed to face to Quen's Lair. Once Annie realizes there is no treasure in Quen's lair she abandons the party members in the middle of the battle and flees the dungeon alone. The Red Party unites with the White Party to face Quen. The newly formed Pink Party manages to defeat the wizard at which point the survivors are discovered by Truman and return to the surface. --- White Chronicles: Snow White and the Evil Wizard '''ROSTER Tiellen, Lvl 3 Knight (Short Sword, Varkin’s Shield)' '''Andika, Lvl 1 Auditor (Chicken Drumstick) Hiro Everyman, Lvl 1 Salaryman (Nail Bat) Kirby, Lvl 1 Banker (Shark Chaingun) D-Link, Lvl 3 Cleric (Giant Hammer) Cata, Lvl 3 Jack (Saber of Spades)' ---''' Members of the White Party are quickly dropped into the action as Kamille's Gundam drops out of the sky and smashes through a wall above. This opens up the entrance to a place called the Mire of the Tainted Ones (which seems to be connected / near The Underspire), where evil creatures known as Gremlocks reside. The group retreats from battle and heads back toward the lower levels of the Crypts which are at the bottom of the Underspire. After dispatching an undead foe they are attacked by a female statue which seems to be the guardian of the lower levels. Once the statue is subdued, however, she reveals herself to be a missing Princess known as "Snow White". She claims that Quen, the Evil Wizard, turned her into a statue and locked her down here after kidnapping her. The group follows Snow White through the Crypts to the place where Quen has made his lair. During this time Kamille obtains the Yomin Sword which is said to be able to cut through anything, and Andika obtains the Yomin Shield which is said to be able to block any attack. These were relics of the Ancient King Yomin (apparently the Crypts they went to belonged to him). After encountering a strange doll like girl in a red hood by the name of Keyuri, The White Party continues on (fighting some Argonids along the way) and eventually arrive at Quen's Lair around the same time as the Red Party. The newly formed Pink Party proceeds to defeat Quen and the group is able to escape to the surface when Truman finds them shortly after. Cata, Hiro, Kamille, and Andika manage to survive. However, during the events that took place, the one who claimed herself to be Snow White is "slain" and consumed in some strange ritual that appears to take place as the party escapes...It turns out this formerly stone lady was the Idol of the Underspire which acted as the physical body of The Living Darkness Snow Black (seen in the stories of the other color parties)...another event happening nearby completes the second phase of the ritual and "Princess" Snow Black is released... Tiellen, who had been slain in battle with Quen, has her corpse taken by a mysterious woman called "Cat" unbeknownst to everyone. She is then turned into a Servant for Princess Snow Black along with two others... --- Green Chronicles: Toppled Tower '''ROSTER Dexter, Lvl 1 Tourist (Luxury Camera) Jeffrey, Lvl 1 Researcher (Tome of Magicology) Raka, Lvl 1 Zombie (Crossbow) Joe Argento, Lvl 1 Pirate (Jake the Magic Gun) Green, Lvl 1 Hobo Swag Metalex, Lvl 1 Stuntman (Boots of Double Jump) Vateilika, Lvl 1 Farmer (Iron Khopesh)' ---'' This group is warped away from the carnage by Jeffrey Raze and into the Ganthian Tower, the place where he works. Upon closer inspection of their surroundings, it would appear that the Tower was also caught in the attack and was now flipped upside down. They agree to try and find a way out, but first decide to make use of Jefferey's apparent knowledge of the tower to gather supplies for the mostly ill equipped party...who knows if any "experiments" that were kept in the tower got loose during the attack? They are taken to a floor that acted as a storage unit for experimental technology and begin gathering orbs to deactivate the security system in the Keystone Room. By doing this, they hoped to shut down the traps and to gather the potentially useful items kept here to assist in their escape. As they gather the orbs, some of the group spot a boy floating in a tank nearby but decide not to mess with it. Once all the orbs are gathered, they attempt to use the Keystone Orb to shut down the security system and deactivate all the traps in the tower. Unfortunately, the Tower deems the threat level to high during the shutdown process and reboots the security system to keep the specimens under control. During this brief reboot, the boy escapes from the tank and confronts the party. The Boy is revealed to be the Demon Arnett who proceeds to attack the group at high speed with his Time Manipulation and Kinetic Control abilities. In the end, Jeffrey Raze manages to get the drop on him and use his magic to pin him down and kill him.. ...The Demon lets them know that he will be back... It becomes evident that Jeffrey knows a lot more about what is taking place in the Tower than he is letting on, but they drop it and continue onward. The party takes the remaining orbs they gathered and unlock certain caches containing items for them to use, including a set of Ganthian Armor which is given to Green They continue to explore the tower when they trigger a Trap Zone, causing a series of traps to go off and dealing big damage (including Raze being slain). The surviving party members (including Vate who had a strange symbiote that was freed from a canister in the Tower save him and power him up) are sent scrambling away from the traps and are eventually stopped at a door blocked off by debris. Poisonous smog closes in on the room, but they manage to destroy the obstacles with one of the items they attained earlier...however...they are sent falling downward. Green manages to save some of the party by falling ahead of everyone on to the glass floor pane below and breaking it...unfortunately he dies in the process. The remaining survivors plummet far down below into a pool of water. Now out of the Tower, Argento takes Green's Ganthian Armor and leads them ahead into the unknown area. After some walking, they notice something going on up ahead and investigate to find another group of survivors being attacked by The Living Darkness. Argento and Vateilika fight The Living Darkness off and help create an opening for them to escape. After finding each other once more, they decide to team up with the remaining survivors of Team Black (Barry and Mana) and continue onward together to find a way out. Along the way, they encounter Arnett (who now has someone with him) again and are attacked. After a bloody battle, Argento manages to sneak up behind a distracted Arnett and shoot him point blank through his heart, killing him once more. They are then discovered by a disgruntled Truman who is mad that they had killed Arnett (since he will come back and now they would have to track him down again). The other parties converge at this point as Truman's group leads the survivors to the surface. --- Yellow Chronicles: Mining for Trouble '''ROSTER' Zazi, Lvl 1 Athelete (Blitz Ball) Maifu, Lvl 1 Knightmare (Gold Belt) Han, Lvl 1 Composer (Timpani) Tombolo, Lvl 1 Monkey (Bananas) Genesis, Lvl 1 Dryad Magic Mudder, Lvl 1 Miner (Pick Axe) Rego, Lvl 1 Scientist (Flasks)' ---'' The members of this group have banded together in a separate cavern that is connected to a series of mines (Topaz Mines). After rescuing a strange talking animal from a monster, they are lead to a Hidden Animal Village which is located in the Underspire. Despite learning a bit about the nature of the dungeon this group quickly meets a perilous end. The Hidden Animal Village has been destroyed by a group of flying, killer cherub statues which proceed to attack the members of the party. Tom watches all of his comrades killed and is then murdered as well. The next chapter reveals that Tom did not see everything that happened. Mudder, Zazi, Genesis, and Rego all survived the attack. Mudder, Genesis, and Rego are all members of a secret order who are working together toward the goal of finding and killing Barry Soetoro (Dictator / Leader of the Free Republic and presumably behind tragedies that were taking place there). They decide to stick together to this end. Zazi suspects nothing even when he is sent off to be killed alone during an attack by a group of Titans. The group is nearly killed by the Titans but a strange Boy named Arnett (who had returned once more after being defeated by the Green Team) appears to save Rego and Mudder. Arnett makes Rego and Mudder into his slaves, but suspects Mudder is going to betray him and kills him. At this point, they encounter another group of adventurers, the remnants of the Black and Green parties (Pyroxene Party). Rego assists Arnett in trying to kill the other survivors. As the fight with the new Pyroxene Party goes on, Rego eventually notices Barry attempting to flee from the battle. He chases after him and vows to exact vengeance on Barry and enters another room (seeing Keyuri with them as well). Once he corners him, Reg chooses to kill Barry...however...by killing him he unknowingly provides the royal blood needed to complete a ritual to free Snow Black from the Underspire. This arc of the story ends with Barry, Rego, and Tiellen becoming the Servants of the now freed Princess Snow Black as a result. --- Black Chronicles: Lalilulelo '''ROSTER' Reims, Lvl 1 Monk/Thief (Brass Knuckles) Fahtastic, Lvl 1 Bard (Folding Chair) Plum IX, Lvl 1 Businessman (Briefcase, Light Flower) Spiral, Lvl 1 Rogue (Twin Daggers) Mana, Lvl 1 Blood Witch Magic Barry, Lvl 1 Communist Leader (Drones)' ---'''' This party finds themselves in a deep dark underground cavern of the Realm of Darkness. After finding each other, the group finds themselves immediately being stalked by "The Hunter," a native of The Mire of the Tainted Ones. Together they manage to kill him and proceed. As they continue onward (with Fah discovering a lute along the way), they encounter a scout group of Gremlocks with a Blue-Beaked Gremlock (seen during one of the other color stories) leading them. They battle each other fiercely...until they are all stunned at the sight of something else that had come upon them... The Living Darkness, The "lalilulelo" , proceeds to tear everyone in the vicinity apart. The survivors try to flee when the Green Party stumbles upon the scene and assists them. They work together and manage to get away, but not without the Black Party taking many casualties. Mana and Barry Soetoro (Dictator / Leader of the Free Republic who had come to threaten the Glimmering King) decide to stick with the remaining members of the Green Party and continue to search for a way out. They are eventually confronted with the Demon Arnett and his minion who attacks the new "Pyroxene Party". Mana stays to assist in fighting them off while Barry eventually attempts to flee the scene with Rego hot on his heels. Much blood is spilled over the course of the fight with Arnett and Mana uses this to her advantage. She manages to keep Arnett occupied with a blood barrage long enough for Argento to sneak up on him from behind and kill him. They are then discovered by Truman and his group. Truman is furious that they killed Arnett since he will just come back and they will have to hunt him down again. At this point the survivors of the other groups converge and Truman's group helps lead them back to the surface. Meanwhile, Barry is cornered and killed by Rego in another area. By killing him, Rego spilled the royal blood necessary for the second part of the ritual to release Snow Black from The Underspire (the first was getting her "body" which was cut down during the White Story). This arc of the story ends with Barry, Rego, and Tiellen becoming the Servants of the now freed Princess Snow Black as a result. Gold and Rainbow Chronicles: Truman's Last Crusade --- Historical Documents More detailed information on some of the background and story provided during this game for this time period...granted as time goes on things change as more information is discovered and revised... Refer to The Library for more specific / organized information --- Historical Document: Cats and Dogs Before Limius, the Archmagus of the Crystal Skycity was a man named Quen. Under his direction the Ganthian Tower was constructed and the age of Ganthian Magic begun. Using this new, efficient form of magic the Crystal Skycity was able to prosper. Fearing the power of the Demons, the Crystal King ordered Quen to capture and study Demons so that they could better understand the enemy. Quen's assistant, a girl named Cat, was a simple magician of low talent. Her main contributing factor was her imagination and cunning. With her help, Quen was able to develop a tactic that could be used to disable and capture Demons. Three samples were captured and labeled Boy 1, Boy 2, and Boy 3. These subjects were placed into stasis. Boy 1 was a local denizen named Dog, who had been raised among humans. Despite objections from his close friends and family, he had Demon blood and was a valuable test subject. Especially because he was weak and tamed, he didn't fight back or try to kill anyone when he was placed into stasis. Boy 2 was the first subject who was captured. With Cat's help, Quen was able to execute a clever trap. Boy 2 was captured without any casualties, and the Crystal King was incredibly pleased with the work they were doing. Quen, however, wasn't entirely content. Some of his peers made fun of him for always relying on his assistant to come up with ideas for him. Ignoring Cat's devised strategy for dealing with the next test subject, Quen came up with a trap of his own for capturing Boy 3. Boy 3, who would come to be known as Arnett, didn't go down so easily. Two platoons of soldiers were killed as well as three ganthian mages. Talented and trained mages who could use anti-demonic magic were a valuable resource. This operation was considered a massive failure. Only with the help of a young knight named Truman were they able to capture Arnett at all. Eventually, Truman's skill and reputation for producing results would cause him to climb rapidly in the ranks until he became the head of the Crystal Knights. As Cat and Quen conducted experiments on the captured Test Subjects, Truman would eventually be given provisional jurisdiction over the operation. As it turned out, he was actually a childhood friend of Boy 1 and had pursued this career in order to free him from captivity. Although that was not possible, as Quen strongly objected to the King, it meant that Dog's treatment improved drastically. Boy 3, observing that Dog was frequently and liberally let off of his leash, began to grow resentment toward Truman for showing favoritism. His sanity rotting away inside of stasis, Arnett vowed to get revenge on Truman when he escaped. Around the time Cat graduated from the Ganthian Academy, she took up a full time position as a researcher. Functionally, due to her lack of any real ability, she continued to work as Quen's assistant. During this period, the Realm of Darkness was first discovered. Quen was sent on the first excursion to figure out exactly what was down there, and naturally his assistant Cat joined him as well. Down in the den of evil, they discovered the Living Darkness for the first time. It was a twisted, Cosmic force which warped the minds of humans and sought to destroy all things: Only to return the world to darkness. Some humans are more easily corrupted than others, and Cat was easily taken in by the insane whispers of this horrific being. After being introduced to the Idol of the Underspire, which acted as the physical body of the Living Darkness, Cat dedicated her loyalty to the lalilulelo. At this point, Quen probably wasn't aware that there was a traitor in his midst. As they routinely traveled to the Realm of Darkness to check on the status of the Underspire, an underground laboratory which would serve as their base of operations once they began studying this realm full time, they would also return to the Ganthian Tower in the Crystal Skycity. During this time period, Cat grew closer to the Living Darkness. However, the mission that she was given only made her more and more furious. Although she had grown fond of the Princess, all that was ever asked of Cat was to retrieve the Demon known as Dog. EvilFairy was interested in him because of his ability to lower the power of other Demons. This seemed like a valuable skill, especially if it could be replicated, for when she began her conquest of the surface world. After all, Demons would probably object to her conquest as well. She'd need to be prepared to face both Humans and Demons alike. Unfortunately, Cat's jealous nature ran wild and she developed a fierce hatred for Dog. Coming up with her own plan, she used her trust at the lab as well as her access to the test subjects in order to sow some serious turmoil. While Quen and Truman were away, she purposefully committed a clerical error that resulted in Arnett and Dog being switched. Dog would accidentally be placed into permanent stasis and forgotten about, at least that was her hope. The fact that Arnett was about to be set free slipped her mind. The first thing Arnett did when he escaped was go after Truman. He was able to track the Crystal Knight down at his home. This was the man who had captured him, and the one who had forced him to remain in a frozen state while Dog was allowed to roam free. There would be no mercy. Arnett ruthlessly slaughtered Truman's family before going after him. Not content with simply killing Truman, he meant to torture him. First his arm was ripped off. Planning to slowly rip the man apart, Arnett delighted in the idea of inflicting severe emotional and physical pain on the person he hated so much. Unfortunately for him, Truman's rage, grief, and pain fueled his will to survive. He was able to fight back and kill Arnett, sending him back to Hell. . . for the time being. When Truman returned to the Ganthian Tower, Cat and Quen had already been sent away on another research trip. Assuming that one of the research assistants was at fault, Truman went ballistic and nearly lost his job after assaulting a student and threatening to dismantle the laboratory. Eventually, he was able to convince the Crystal King to give him leave to form a squad to track down and recapture Arnett. The Boy 3 was sure to resurrect, and when he did he was not going to be happy. Truman freed Dog from stasis, instating him as a temporary agent of the crown in order to help hunt down and capturing Arnett again. Together, they would go on to form the Anti-Demon Squad. After producing results time and time again, Dog eventually became a trusted ally of the Crystal Skycity, despite his Demonic heritage. Down in the Realm of Darkness, the Princess was disappointed that Cat had failed to deliver this valuable asset to her side. However, there were other methods available to her in order to create a perfect Servant. Naturally, Cat volunteered herself. Thus began the birth of Cat as she exists now. Using the power of Creation, Cat was killed and reborn over and over until she displayed the perfect combination of traits. Her cunning and tenacity remained intact, and she gained a talent for magic as well as close combat. Unfortunately, the process cost her a bit of sanity as well and she became even more unstable. Because Cat was a Human, turning her into a Servant required less power than creating one from scratch. As a result, however, the Princess went a bit overboard and made her a little too strong. She had officially invested in a valuable Servant who could not be easily lost or given up. Thrilled with this arrangement, Cat returned to the surface once more with a new plan. In order to ensure her longevity, so that she could protect the Princess while she recovered, Cat decided to make herself immortal. Her access to the lab meant that she would be able to do what she needed without question. Going to where the test subjects were kept, Cat dreamt up her final revenge against Dog. She was going to use her newly inflated magical power in order to steal his Immortal Essence, and grant herself the quality of agelessness. Not being aware of all that had gone on while she was away, Cat stole the Immortal Essence from the only remaining test subject: Boy 2. When the Crystal King found out that Boy 3 had escaped, Boy 2 had been somehow permanently killed, and Boy 1 was freed in order to assist Truman on his hunt for Boy 3 the project was shut down. Quen and Cat were sent into the Underspire to perform research full time. By this point, Quen was acutely aware of the fact that Cat had both repeatedly and willfully betrayed him. However, he was okay with keeping her around for the time being. The exposure to the Living Darkness had driven him slightly mad as well. He dreamed of performing experiments on living subjects, and knew that if he had an assistant like Cat she would not expose him to the King. While Cat secretly worked to ensure that research on the Living Darkness would not be successful, Quen distracted himself with other forms of research. In this isolated laboratory, he was free from the watchful eyes of society. First focusing on the magic of Animation, Quen ordered statues to be sent to his laboratory and began bringing them to life. He became a master of petrification magic as well as animation. Due to an accident, after bringing a cherub statue to life, Quen mistakenly granted it the quality of animating other statues. His entire warehouse full of cherub statues was brought to life in the span of one night, as they spread the gift of life to each other. Luckily, he was able to get on top of it quickly with the help of Cat (who strangely seemed to know exactly what was going on before it happened). They sealed the cherubs away, along with all of the other statues, and Quen decided it was time to focus on living test subjects. This operation didn't last long. After recapturing Arnett, Truman arrived to question Quen about what had happened back in the Ganthian Tower. What he found was a mad scientist whose assistant had disappeared and who hadn't done any of the things the king had commanded him to do. At some point, there was definitely a Princess Snow White, but she had been fed to Gremlocks. Disgusted, Truman ordered him to stand down. . . but he was incapable of fighting Quen at that time. Quen had become too powerful. Returning to the Skycity, Truman told the king that the best thing to do was seal it all off. The operation needed to be shut down. Since this seemed sensible at the time, the king complied. Cat and Quen would wage an underground war against each other. Ironically, as EvilFairy had used so much power in turning Cat into the perfect Servant, her own power was severely weakened. This gave Quen the opportunity to capture the Idol of the Underspire and cast a powerful spell of Petrification on her. Cat vanished, biding her time until she could resurrect the Princess. The day that Quen accomplished what he had been sent there to do, neutralizing the Living Darkness, was the day that Truman sealed off the entrance to his tomb. Vowing revenge against the Crystal King, Quen waited for the day when some fool adventurer would come to raid his tomb. Over the next decade, disrepair and neglect caused the Underspire to transform into a dungeon. The true purpose was forgotten, until the day when the Realm of Darkness was disturbed, and the Living Darkness would be awoken once more. Historical Document: History of the Kingdoms This story takes place in the world of Pangaea, a massive continent where all of the landmass is gathered together and surrounded by oceans on all sides. The countries closer to the center are landlocked while the ones near the edges are more near to major sources of salt water. At the center of Pangaea are the Pride Lands. This is where the most advanced and strongest Human tribes have gathered. The Crystal Skycity is located here, as well as the Free Republic. The Crystal Skycity orbits over a country that is often called Ganthia. However, because much of the societies governance comes from above (literally, since the King and royal family are up in the sky as well as a large chunk of the population), the people of the Free Republic are often quite annoyed that they are not supposed to use all of this empty land. Heading North from the Pride Lands will take you toward the Poles, a mostly snowy climate where human populations are more scarce, more scattered, and less technologically developed. Here is where the races of humanity who constantly battle against the forces of nature live. Additionally, the population of Fiends is quite high in this region, causing two things. The humans who live in the Pole regions are more inclined to be trained for combat against Fiends. Also, there is Fiend Migration from the North. Many of the monsters that inhabit the dungeons in other regions originally came from this area, adapted over time to the new habitats, and evolved into subspecies of already existing Polar Fiends. To the East are the Old Kingdoms. The greatest human society in history used to call this region their home. The last ruler of the Old Kingdoms was Lord Soltar. There are many unexplored ruins, tombs, and dungeons in this area. It is the perfect place for Demons and powerful Fiends to make their lairs. Although the Fiend population is not as high, in the area where there are Fiends their population is much more concentrated. That is to say there are less Fiends overall than in the Poles, but you are more likely to find a den where many Fiends live, possibly with Demons ruling over them. Some humans still thrive in these regions, but they are generally restricted to areas that are away from any Fiend dens and always constantly facing the threat of random annihilation. Because Pangaea is not lined exactly with the equator, the Southern half of the continent doesn't approach the southern pole of the globe. Instead, this region is actually a bit closer to the equator. What this means is that the southern regions are more tropical in climate, and the coast is very similar to a traditional gulf or ocean (depending on what section). Many of the human settlements in this region are either located on small islands off the coast, or along the coast. Much of their sustenance comes from the sea. Because of the large number of Fiends who have problems dealing with water, the Southern population is the least likely to face monster invasion at any given time and has the lowest Fiend population. This results in the humans of this region being overall less prepared and less experienced at dealing with monsters. Which is unfortunate, because the few Fiends who do emerge in this region (typically coming up from the bottom of the sea) are incredibly powerful. There have been two Great Southern Massacres in recent history as a result, in which major portions of the population were wiped out and refugees fled to the Ganthian Country. As one travels West, the land becomes increasingly more overgrown and wild in nature. The tribes which populate this area are the least civilized of men, and were previously called Wildlings as a result. Some still call them by this name. However, with in the last several decades a warrior named Kahu united all of the tribes, beastmasters, shamans, blood witches, and other heretics. With the Wildlings united, they began to build the foundations of an actual society. There is a mixture of Fiends in this region, making them slightly more concentrated than the Fiend population in the North while still being less condensed than the Fiend population in the East. Basically, they are more 'average' in terms of how many monsters and how evenly spread out they are. Interestingly, Kahu went on a journey and then vanished. As a result, there was a power struggle and the tribes have descended back into a slightly more chaotic state. Hell can be considered a separate dimension. Generally, only Demons can travel between these dimensions. However, it may be possible for other beings to do so with the use of very powerful magic. When a Demon is killed in the Mortal dimension, they are returned to Hell. Some Demons will come back in a more powerful form each time. Demons are separated by tiers of power which determine their standing in society. Lower Demons make up the general population of Hell and are nothing special. They are the everyday citizens of the underworld. Higher Demons are further split into three Circles. The Third Circle is the lowest tier of Nobility. The Second Circle is the next highest. The First Circle is reserved for Demons who rule over one of the countries in Hell. Generally, power is inherited through genetics. As a result, many Second Circle Demons are actually relatives of the Demons of the First Circle. Overview The Crystal Skycity was the first part of the third Into the Dungeon game (also known as 'Out of the Dungeon'). This was the first installment to completely forego game mechanics and be narratively driven. Players were also only allowed to submit a single character rather than rejoining the game every time they died. The story begins when Cata Spade travels to the Crystal Skycity of Ganthia based on a rumor that the Crystal King was preparing a group of adventurers to seek his missing daughter, the Crystal Princess. After meeting a mysterious Rainbow-Eyed Girl outside of the local tavern, the city is attacked by Demons. Cata Spade is saved by Jeff Zero and, whatever their plans may have originally been, they are caught up in a completely unexpected adventure. All player submitted characters were split into five teams immediately based on a color chosen upon character submission (Red, Yellow, White, Green, Black). Updates were written in order with each group getting an update roughly once a week. Each character also started with an item selected by the player at submission. After the introduction the story began by slowly introducing the concept that the Skycity had been knocked out of the sky and the adventurers had somehow managed to survive the fall but were stuck in an underground dungeon caused by the city collapsing into a previously established cavern. The story proceeds by having the groups attempt to survive, reunite, solve the mystery of where they have wound up, influence key events, and eventually get back out of the dungeon with their lives. The survivors who made it through the first arc would either be part of Knight Truman's Crusade or be one of Snow Black's servants (who was released as a result of certain choices). At this point we enter the Truman's Last Crusade arc, where the eleven survivors who ended up with Truman would battle the demons who had attacked the Crystal Skycity and attempt save the Crystal King while also dealing with Snow Black's servants who were trying to capture / sacrifice the Crystal King and use his royal blood to get Snow Black back to her full strength. The players are introduced to a very strategic phase prior to the arc really starting where the players had to decide which of them should go to which squad (each focused on a different goal) as well as to who should be paired up with each other based on character traits, relationships, amongst other things. This led to much discussion as these decisions and the layout the group decided upon would have drastic effects on what happened and how successful they were in combination to the choices they would make in the moment during the story. The game ended with a Pretty Good End as the survivors managed to defeat Raistandt and her minions with the assistance of Barry Soetoro (who betrayed Snow Black) bringing about the new Age of Humanity. Snow Black and Cat are still on the loose but relatively weakened at this point. In the aftermath, it is revealed that a hostile Cosmic Invasion is approaching and the Demons send a squad of key characters back to Pangaea to warn humanity and assist them (since the Demons didn't like those Cosmics either). These offscreen events would set up the next game where Demons would take advantage of the weakened state of humanity after the battle with the invading Cosmics and bring about the Second Age of Demons. Information on the specifics of what happened during this are mentioned later (refer to Library or look ahead in the Story)